A Saving Grace Within The Veil
by Captain Yaple
Summary: When a dying teenager in a hospital bed begrudgingly awaits his death, with no real enthusiasm for life, a to-be friend appears to change his whole world. Oneshot. Reviews appreciated!


**AN: If you are reading this, you're reading this after the doc got screwed up and added a bunch of random HTML stuff into it. I've fixed it, and hopefully it'll stay that way.**

Dirk was dying, anyone could see it. All he could do was sit in a dumbass hospital gurney. A brain aneurysm wasn't something to joke about, (well, not when you had one). Any day the damn thing would kill him, and all he could really do was lie there. All the doctors had provided that as his diagnosis. The one thing he dreaded was the fact that his abusive foster parents had checked him into a religious hospital, not that they were necessarily less capable than normal hospitals. It's just that, as someone who didn't believe in god, a religious doctor's 'pain medication' felt more like a slap in the face. The whole "repent in the face of death" was nothing but bullshit to him.

It was amazing how well Dirk could sum up his current scenario at midnight, already sleep deprived for a day. He hadn't bothered trying to sleep. He wanted every last second of his waking hours that he could. It was still dark, as the nurse insisted that the lights be turned off, although it didn't matter, he wouldn't sleep anyways.

Everyone has their one action. The one thing they do when the pain is too much, but there's too little to do. For Dirk it was to close his eyes and imagine how his life could've gone. For most such an action would've been even more painful, but for Dirk it felt nice, to picture what his life would be like if his parents hadn't been killed by a drunk driver, if he had actually suffered a chance within the foster care system (foster kids could be dicks), if he had been placed into a home that actually cared more about him than the piece of paper they received every month; that was still all they cared about, so of course they didn't visit. It was as if Dirk had the opposite of an angel on his shoulder (not necessarily a demon, more like some bad luck charm), driving his life to shit.

The lights suddenly flicking on snapped his attention from his train of thought, and he mentally cursed himself for somehow forgetting exactly what he was thinking just before. "Well, Mr. Yaple, quite a troubling life you've had" He heard an almost smug voice walk in the door, opening his eyes to see some strange kind of doctor he'd never seen before, wearing the standard uniform of the doctors in the hospital. He was strangely faint, although Dirk chalked that up to his lack of sleep. "Topped off with that poker ball in your head and all you need to do is find your Augustus!" He chuckled as Dirk frowned.

Dirk glared at him, fighting a smile from the John Green reference, "you know, as much as I enjoy finally getting a doctor with a sense of humor, can you please not?" He rolled his eyes.

Dirk watched the strange doctor tossed aside the clipboard he was holding, not missing the fact that it vanished into thin air. Eh, his sleep deprivation probably accounted for that. The man clapped his hands together, "shall we get down to business instead? Great!" He said enthusiastically, not bothering to hear Dirk's reply.

"What business?" Dirk asked skeptically, "I'm practically dead!" he nearly exclaimed too loud for his taste.

"Correction, young grasshopper" the lab coat vanished off of the man, leaving a dark blue shirt under a leather jacket, "you're dying, sucker. You'll be dead in...oh, 7 and a half minutes? Somewhere along that line. None of this is real, by the way. In reality, they're attempting their valiant efforts to stabilize you." Dirk's eyes widened, almost hearing the rush of a hospital's code blue- the code that involved someone dying- faded to the point that sounded an entire world away.

"Okay..." he began, unsure, "so now what? Are you some kind of angel about to whisk me off to heaven?" Dirk said sarcastically.

Well...yes and no. I am indeed an angel," the man said, "See, they call me Gabriel" He said, Dirk's eyes widening further, "Got your attention now, haven't I? Gabriel smirked.

"You're-" Dirk began when suddenly he felt a tingling in his chest and Gabriel became fainter, as if he were some kind of shade. Moments later, Gabriel solidified back to his original state, and Dirk noticed that he seemed a bit more...solid than when he had walked into the room. "W...What's happening to me?" Dirk asked, flustered, almost terrified. This was a situation he hadn't been in before, and he had no idea what was going on at all; of course he would be afraid. Even then his logical reasoning won out over his fear, and he decided that the best way to figure out what was going on was the 'archangel' in front of him. He could panic later.

"I told you" Gabriel said casually, seeming more critical than surprised, "you're dying, genius! Those clever doctors in the world of the living can zap your chest all they like, it doesn't change a thing." He said, his walls coming down for a moment to reveal...sadness, and Dirk guessed that he wasn't the first person in the room to go through this.

"So" Dirk chose his words carefully, "You can help me?"

"First things first, you probably figured out this isn't the real world, and fact is, it's not even a world that either of us made up. This is the veil." He gestured outwards, his outline even bolder than before, "This, young man, is where the wild dead things are, at least before the reapers come and drag you to wherever you're assigned."

Dirk blinked, suddenly realizing that the physical effects of staying awake were nonexistent, although he didn't feel the ability nor the urge to move. There was also the fact that the afterlife apparently existed, and he was tempted to make sure it was heaven and hell that Gabriel referred to (then again, the fact of Gabriel being a Christian entity gave some pretty solid evidence for that), but decided that, for the present moment, it wasn't important, but something still gnawed at him. "Wait, so I know you're an archangel and all, but how are you...here?" he slowly pointed downwards, unsure of how to put it. "I mean, it doesn't really add up, you're supposed to be in heaven or something." He paused in the middle of his sentence, feeling another tingle and seeing Gabriel become faint again, but definitely not as much of an effect.

Gabriel shrugged, "alright, you got me. I'm dead. Most angels just die and that's that, but archangels, me in particular, can still hang on. However, I'm still dead."

"how can an archangel be dead? I mean, you're an archangel for...god's sake." Dirk hesitated on the last bit, taking a quick second to comprehend his latest theological discovery that god might actually be real, too. Shit, he probably was as real as Gabriel.

Gabriel's walls went up again at the topic change, "long story. I stood up to Lucifer and he killed me." He quickly glossed over it, and as Dirk felt another tingle on his chest, Gabriel continued, "Anyhow, even though I'm dead, I'm still an archangel, which means I have the power to bring you back through a certain method, although...you might not like it."

Dirk sat up, finally interested enough to move, "How?" He asked, looking at Gabriel, continuing when he hesitated, "Look, I'm gonna die anyway, even if I say no, I'm still curious how."

Gabriel sighed, "Fine, I can't get out of here by myself, and obviously neither can you, so before you're fully dead, I can possess you"

"...what" Dirk finally managed to say as Gabriel faded once more momentarily.

"Look, hear me out" Gabriel quickly cut him off, "once you die, this can't be done. If you're injured to the point of no return and an angel possesses you, they can save you. Even if that angel is...oh, the shade of an archangel, then it works, although it's risky. There's all that fuss about whether the vessel is suitable for the angel, and we're past that-"

"What do you mean? What happens if the vessel isn't suitable?"

"Then either the vessel explodes and takes the angel with it" Gabriel winced slightly "or the angel within is consumed by the vessel and the vessel dies from the residual energy."

"So either way, I'll die. Great, can we-" Dirk began, but was interrupted by Gabriel.

"That's in a normal situation. This? This is not a normal situation. I may know a lot, but I don't know what'd happen here. Now, I am willing to take that risk, but out of all the dead people, you're the best chance I have"

Dirk made it a future goal to rid himself of the habit of blinking in shock, "Wait, what? Why me?"

"Because, when an angel finds the right kind of vessel to contain them, one not too strong or too weak, that's considered their true vessel. For normal angels, that's a broad spectrum, but for an archangel..." Gabriel trailed off.

"Lemme guess, only one?" Dirk noted the cliche.

"five, actually, on average" Gabriel explained, "You'd be my second vessel, and it's actually not too bad of a life. You get an all-expenses paid express pass to heaven, for one, even if you die trying." He grinned mischievously, "Now, you in, or are you gonna just die and see where the reaper takes you? Although keep in mind, heaven does have a waiting room, or a line, whichever you like, but the point is-" Dirk heard a knock on the door as a man in a business suit poked his head into the door, clearing his throat to get Gabriel's attention, as he held up a golden pocket watch, the ticking able to be heard from across the room. Dirk didn't know for sure, but it was a pretty good bet that the man was one of the reapers that Gabriel had spoken about.

Dirk quickly realized that his curiosity had gotten the best of him, eating up his remaining minutes, as the man left once again to stand in the hall. "I'm gonna guess it's my time?" He said solemnly to Gabriel.

Gabriel looked Dirk in the eyes, "not yet. It's now or never, kiddo"

He nodded, "alright...how do we do this?" Dirk asked, uncertain.

Gabriel walked up to the side of his hospital bed, "For an angel to possess a human, they need their consent"

Dirk shrugged, "alright..."

Gabriel gave Dirk a look that said "really?", "It means you have to say yes, moron"

So it was like with vampires, then, requiring invitation to enter a home. "Yes" He sighed, not saying yes with simply his voice, but mentally surrendering his own body to this...angel.

Gabriel nodded, "Much better. Thank you." The door opened as the reaper walked in, closing the door behind him. Gabriel waved him off, "One last word, please" He turned back to Dirk, the reaper apparently annoyed at that, content to stand at the door and mutter about how he was late already. Gabriel winked at Dirk, a wink unseen by the reaper, and a sudden pang of excitement went through him at the prospect of cheating death.

Gabriel reached towards Dirk's hand, but Dirk quickly stopped him, "Wait" He looked up at the archangel, looking as real as ever, "what's it feel like? Normally, I mean?"

Gabriel hid his surprise well, looking down at the young man with an almost familiar expression, as if he really cared. "Like falling asleep" He said softly, breaking into a friendly smile, which Dirk shared with him as Gabriel's hand found Dirk's shoulder.

The reaper instantly straightened, eyes widening, although he made no move to stop them. Gabriel grinned and waved ecstatically to the dapper spirit, calling "Check ya later, asshat!" behind him, laughing as he looked back at Dirk, eyes glowing pure white, the world around them following moments after.


End file.
